BILL NUMBER: AB 1383INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jones FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act relating to hospitals, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1383, as introduced, Jones. Hospitals: quality assurance fee. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Existing law prescribes procedures for Medi-Cal reimbursement at these facilities. Existing law requires that, as a condition of Medi-Cal program participation, and subject to federal approval, there be imposed a quality assurance fee on skilled nursing facilities, with the moneys collected from these fees to be used for specified purposes under the Medi-Cal program to support quality improvement of long-term care, as prescribed. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would impose a fee on hospitals in order to increase federal financial participation in order to increase Medi-Cal payments to hospitals. This bill would also require the department to maximize federal funding in Med-Cal payments to hospitals. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would impose a fee to be paid by hospitals that shall be used to increase federal financial participation in order to increase Medi-Cal payments to hospitals. SEC. 2. The State Department of Health Care Services shall seek to maximize federal funding in Medi-Cal, including funding for hospital reimbursement. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to make the necessary statutory changes to increase Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and improve access' at the earliest possible time, so as to allow this act to be operative as soon as approval from the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is obtained by the State Department of Health Care Services, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.